Following the British conquest of Ottoman Palestine, Jews across the British Empire—from Jerusalem to Johannesburg, London to Calcutta—found themselves at the heart of global Jewish political discourse. As these intellectuals, politicians, activists, and communal elites navigated shifting political landscapes, some envisioned Palestine as a British dominion, leveraging imperial power for Jewish state-building, while others fostered ties with anticolonial movements, contemplating independent national aspirations. In this talk, Clark University professor Elizabeth Imber (History) explores the intricate interplay between British imperialism, Zionism, and anticolonial movements from the 1917 British conquest of Palestine to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. With context from her new book, Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism (Stanford University Press, 2025), Imber will show how the British Empire’s fate became central to Zionist and broader Jewish political thought during a time marked by profound urgency and exigency.
This event is part of the Higgins Faculty Series. Admission is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided. Guests are encouraged to arrive at 11:45pm for refreshments.
Elizabeth Imber is Associate Professor of History and the Michael and Lisa Leffell Chair in Modern Jewish History at Clark University. Her work examines the cultural and political dimensions and intersections of Jewish history and European imperial history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her first book, Uncertain Empire: Jews, Nationalism, and the Fate of British Imperialism (Stanford University Press, 2025), explores the multifaceted nature of Jewish politics in the British Empire during the rise of anticolonial national and transnational political movements.
